


Always

by Leonalielee



Category: South Park
Genre: Angst, Blood, Drabble, Injured Stan Marsh, Minor Character Death, School Shootings, Serious Injuries, s22e1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 17:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20728019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonalielee/pseuds/Leonalielee
Summary: When Stan is shot at school, Kyle helps him hide as he waits for his parents. His mom will come, right? She always comes when the school is shot. Where is his mom? Where is his mom!?





	Always

**Author's Note:**

> I just could not believe Sharon ignored her son when he got shot like that, so of course, I had to make some angst. Also, sorry I am terrible at titles.

It was an ordinary day. Stan was a bit worried about his grade on the math test, but he would get it back soon. He heard that the glee club shot up the school during 4th period, which sucked because a bullet shot through his locker and hit his lunch box, making his juice explode over his English homework. He’d have to redo it. Bummer. 

“Hey man,” Kyle greeted him as they walked to class together like they had every day since they were in like, kindergarten. Stan nodded to him noncommittally and continued to head upstairs to their class. 

He sat down in the 6th period, sighing. Just as the bell rang the rest of the students filed in and took their seats. Mrs. Nelson started setting up a documentary about the civil war before turning off the lights. Almost all the children clocked out as the opening credits started to play, and Stan was part of the majority. He turned his head and looked at Kyle, who, unlike himself, was engrossed in the film, jotting down notes like they were supposed to be doing. He smiled. The redhead was kinda cute when he was concentrating. His tongue would slip out of his mouth just a tiny bit, and he would squint at whatever he was looking at, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side. 

Suddenly green eyes were locked on his and he was snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed that Kyle was talking to him. 

“What?”

“I asked if you would please tell me why you were staring at me.” Stan turned red and looked down, avoiding his friend's eyes for the rest of the period. 

Soon the bell was ringing and the five-minute break started. Stan headed into the hallway, trying to clear his head and maybe wash his face to get rid of the redness of his cheeks. He was too lost in his thoughts to see the sleep-deprived looking fifth-grader yank a gun from her bag and proceed to scream at the top of her lungs before starting to shoot. 

“Stan I think it’s time to go!” Kyle yelled, pulling his friend back towards their classroom. They weren’t panicking, this wasn’t the first occurrence of them being caught in the hallway as some kid decided they were going on a killing spree. At least, not until the pair of boys rounded the corner to the stairwell, and waiting for them was yet another 5th grader, aiming a shotgun at them. The shot was aimed right for Kyle’s head. As the shot was fired, Stan turned and shoved Kyle out of the way, setting himself in the line of fire instead. The bullet ripped through his arm, just above his elbow, tearing through his coat sleeve. 

It was the most excruciating pain Stan had ever felt, and that showed by the bloodcurdling scream he let rip from his lips. Blood was gushing from the wound, making his stomach turn, and he almost collapsed right then and there out of pain. He was so caught up on how his arm felt like it was on fire that he forgot about the shooter, who had raised his gun again and was preparing to shoot once more. Kyle dragged him out of the line of fire and the bullet pierced the locker behind him. 

They had never thought much of the school shootings because usually, they don’t get caught up in them. It had happened so often that the sound of gunshots and screaming were background noise that the kids could just ignore. But now they were in the middle of everything, with Stan’s pitiful cries burning holes into Kyle’s mind, and suddenly, it wasn’t just background noise. One thought ran through his head as the pair ran through the bullet-riddled hallways, a steady trail of blood following them, and it was that he had to find a place to hide, he had to protect Stan.

A janitor’s closet devoid of any people seemed to be their best bet as Kyle yanked open the door, ushering Stan inside. He locked the door and turned on his phone flashlight so they could see without revealing their location. Stan was trembling, biting the collar of his coat to keep from whimpering loudly. Kyle immediately went to his side, looking around for something to tie up the wound with. But for some reason, this janitor’s closet had no towels or rags. It’s a janitor’s closet! They clean with towels and rags! Before he could get too worked up, Kyle spotted a jagged piece of broken glass, likely leftover from the janitor’s drinking break. Without hesitating, the ginger grabbed it and pulled off his jacket. He started to saw at the sleeve with the glass before Stan tried to stop him.

“Your coat…” He weakly protested. Kyle waved him off.

“I can get another one.” He continued to saw through the sleeve until it tore off, at which point he took the sleeve and tied it around Stan’s bloody arm, making the ravenet scream through his teeth in pain. When the makeshift bandage was finished, Kyle let Stan slump into his side as they waited for the gunshots to die down. In the light of the flashlight, Kyle could see the fat tears rolling down his cheeks, soaking Kyle’s gray shirt, but he didn’t mind. 

“Don’t worry, your mom is probably waiting right outside for you, just like she always is after a school shooting. She’ll make sure you’re ok.” Kyle reassured Stan. “You’ll get a cool cast and I’ll be the first person to sign it, and you’ll probably get a kick-ass scar from it too.”

Stan smiled at his friend's attempts to cheer him up and distract him from the terrible pain in his arm. He felt an arm make its way around his shoulders, holding him closer to Kyle. He rested his head on his friend’s shoulder, his whimpers of pain slightly quieter now. 

They had peace for but a moment before someone was jiggling the doorknob, yelling for them to open the door. They sounded angry and too young to be a police officer. The two boys drew closer to each other as the mystery person started slamming on the door full bodily. The lock on the door was old, it wouldn’t hold under all the hits. After maybe ten repetitions of the kid body slamming the door, it busted open. Lo an behold, it was the male shooter from the stairwell, back to finish them off, angry they had gotten away. As the gun was raised, both boys clung to each other in fear. Before he had the chance to shoot, however, a bullet hit the back of the kid’s skull, shooting out the front of his face and spraying blood over the two boys, who shrieked as the shooter fell forward onto them. After getting the corpse off of themselves, the pair looked up to see a police officer offering his hand to them. 

“You are all right, children. Come with me and I will take you to the medical personnel to asses any injuries you may have.” He said. Kyle took his hand and stood before helping Stan up, who clutched his arm. 

When they exited the school, Stan looked around for his mother. She would be there, and she would give him a hug and she would take him to the doctors. But he didn’t see her anywhere. He was taken to an ambulance, where the paramedics undid Kyle’s coat sleeve bandage to reveal the sticky mess of blood underneath. They helped him out of his own coat and cleaned up the wound, wrapping it in bandages for the time being as they waited to bring him to the hospital. But Stan was too caught up in searching every face that passed to see if it could be his mother. None of them were.

“We are going to call your mother so she can come with you alright?” One paramedic asked. “Can you give us her phone number?” Numbly, Stan told them. Maybe his mom hadn’t seen the news yet and didn’t even know the school was shot up. A comforting hand being placed on his own pulled him from his thoughts and he looked up to see Kyle, a sad smile draped over his features as if he knew what Stan was thinking.

“She’ll come.” The redhead said firmly. The paramedic turned back towards them.

“Yes, she should be on her way soon. We’ll wait a bit for her.” She told them.

Five minutes passed. No Sharen Marsh. Ten minutes. No Mom. After 15 minutes, the ambulance had to reluctantly leave, letting Kyle stay with Stan on the way to the hospital when his mom never showed up. Tears started to drip from the ravenet’s eyes when he realized his mom didn’t come to his rescue. She didn’t bend down and scoop him into one of her comforting hugs, didn’t check all over him for injuries and gasp when she found one, didn’t make sure everything was okay, didn’t shield him from his panicked thoughts of the shooter finding them hidden in the closet, didn’t come for him. 

He didn’t realize the sobs slipping from his lips at the absence of his mother until Kyle was pulling him into a hug and trying to comfort him.

“I’m so sorry, Stan. She always came, she should have been here.” He murmured.

“She has to be here... “ Stan muttered, staring at the closed ambulance doors, “She cares about me, she has to come. Dad will come too, maybe they’re just late. Yeah, Dad is always late, they’re just late. They’ll come to the hospital.” Kyle frowned, Stan was just building himself up to disappointment. 

As Stan was being patched up and Kyle checked over, the ravenet was constantly watching the door, waiting for the moment when his mother would burst through it, crying and hugging him and saying how glad she was that he was okay. As the minutes turned into a few hours, and the shards of the bullet had all been removed from Stan’s arm, and he got a sling, and he was prescribed pain medicine, his hopeful face dropped lower and lower until his lip was trembling and his eyes lined with silver tears.

Finally, the doctor said he would have to call his parents to come to pick him up, and those brown eyes started leaking. Kyle went to comfort him and was not surprised when his friend broke into sobs. 

“They didn’t come to me! They didn’t care!” He wailed. Not knowing what else to do, Kyle hopped onto the bed, opening his arms in an offer to Stan, who threw himself into them. The redhead was skinny and his hug awkward, not used to giving out hugs, nothing like his mother’s warm and gentle hugs, well-practiced in her many years of motherhood. But it was comforting nonetheless, especially when a soft kiss was pressed to his hair in an attempt to offer a similar parental effect, and it sort of worked.

By the time the doctor reentered the room, Stan was mostly calm, sniffling a bit and clinging to Kyle. 

“By the way, Mr. Brovlovski, your parents have been waiting in the waiting room for quite some time after they heard you were here. Would you like to head out to them?” The Doctor asked. Kyle looked down at his friend, who didn’t look ready to let go of him anytime soon.

“Can I stay here a little longer? Just until Stan’s parents get here?” He asked. 

“I’ll tell your parents.” The doctor exited the room, leaving the two boys by themselves once more. 

“You feeling okay?” Kyle asked Stan.

“I can’t believe she didn’t come,” he replied. “She came to every shooting except for the one I needed her there for.” He felt the tears start up once more, “Is she punishing me for not making a big deal out of the shootings? I never realized how bad they were.” 

“Shh, she isn’t punishing you. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Kyle reassured him. “It’s okay. Even if your mom isn’t here, I will always be here for you.”

“Always?”

“Always.”  
~~~

When Stan’s parents did finally show up, Kyle seemed to guard the boy from them, glaring when he saw how they didn’t rush to his side, even told him to hurry up and get to the car. He stopped them and asked Randy if Stan could stay the night at his house, and Stan’s parents agreed, though Randy was somewhat annoyed that they came all that way for nothing. From then on, Kyle decided that he hated Stan’s parents for abandoning him when he needed them so badly, and vowed that he would protect Stan. Always.


End file.
